


Ты мне нравишься(I like you)

by orphan_account



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: If it is it's platonic I guess, Looks like this will be a 5+1 after all, No Johnlock here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-27 19:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/982702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is trying to tell Sherlock he likes him, but Sherlock startles him in the middle of his planning. Sherlock doesn't react.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> John is trying to tell Sherlock he likes him, but Sherlock startles him in the middle of his planning. Sherlock doesn't react.  
> My first attempt at writing Sherlock fanfic without a coauthor...I'm not really sure how it turned out.  
> Originally a 5+1, now just one chapter. I'm going to see how this gets reviews/concrit before adding more, so let me know what you think! Thanks to my friend for the Russian.

John Watson was trying to tell Sherlock how he felt about him.  
It was harder than he’d expected.  
Which is why he was staring at the white and blue screen of Google Translate, cup of tea at his side, “I like you” typed in the “English” box. The number of options seemed overwhelming. French? No, too many romantic implications. This was going to be platonic, obviously. Ignoring the voice in the back of his head currently saying something that sounded awfully like “If it’s platonic, why are you going to all this trouble...hmm?”, John looked for another language.Japanese? Could he even pronounce that? Hmm...Russian? That could work, actually. Hadn’t Sherlock said something about Russia earlier?   
“Let’s see…” John muttered to himself. “So…”  
John looked at the Russian letters on the screen.   
Ты мне нравишься.  
Well, it was Russian. John’s eyes fell to the bottom of the screen, to where the (remarkably handy) phonetic translation was. Apparently, “Ты мне нравишься” was pronounced as “Ty mne nravish'sya”.   
“Tie...me…”  
“Tie you?” a voice echoed from behind him.  
John sprayed tea over the screen, slammed the laptop shut and spun around to see Sherlock silhouetted in the doorframe.  
“Sherlock! That is-hi! When did you-how long have you-hi!” John sputtered out between gulps of air.   
Sherlock didn’t reply, just gave John a slightly confused look. When John turned away to try and salvage the laptop from death by English Breakfast tea, he heard an exasperated sigh from behind him.  
“Really, John? Tea on the laptop again?”  
“It’s your own fault for sneaking up on me like that. You could always give me a warning.” John said, attempting to wipe the screen down by hand, then reaching for a tea towel.  
“Don’t touch that.” Sherlock warned, “Experiment involving some highly dangerous chemicals.”  
“You did an experiment...on a tea towel? On my tea towel?” John said.  
“You’re being ridiculous John. Would you have preferred me to use a jumper?”  
“No!”  
Sherlock gave his most infuriating look, the one that said he knew he was right and there wasn’t anything you could do to change his mind.   
“Well then. You shouldn’t make such a fuss, John. It’s rather unbecoming.”   
With that, Sherlock strode over to the kitchen. John heard a drawer slam shut, a stove turn on, and smelled something so noxious he didn’t even want to know where it came from. With a sigh, John left the flat for some fresh air.


	2. Je vous aime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks after the Russian fiasco, John tries his hand at French.

A few weeks after the Russian failure, John steeled himself to try again. He had learned his lesson about languages, and had decided on an European based language. And against all his better judgement, he had decided on French. John wasn’t stupid. He knew for sure that Sherlock spoke fluent French-he must, he was Sherlock Holmes, and he knew that French was in every way a Romance language. John didn’t want to cause anything to change about his friendship with Sherlock, and that all these factors combined made French quite possibly the worst choice. But here he was, staring at his old French textbook (the laptop was in for repairs after an unexpected shower of hot tea), trying to conjugate the verb aimer. It was much harder than he remembered. _How did I ever manage to pass French I?_ John thought to himself. _I must have had a splendid tutor...or some nice crib sheets._ John stared at the dusty pages until his head pounded. After a half hour he was no further along, except that he now remembered why he switched to Spanish. With a sigh, he put the book down on a table and went into the kitchen for a cup of tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter dreamed up over my French homework.  
>  I'm going to be writing more, and the chapters should be longer than this one.


	3. Ich Mag Dich

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Sherlock are at a museum for a case. John gets an idea, and some German tourists misinterpret.

The next time, they were on a case. Sherlock was convinced that the vital clue to the case was somehow hidden in a museum. And of course, the only time they could go was in the middle of the day, because while Sherlock could get them anywhere in the world at any time, they had to go to the museum during its normal operating hours. Not that John was complaining. It was nice to be on the legal side of things for a change. Nice and normal. Or at least as nice and normal as one could be with Sherlock.   
“Sherlock!” John hissed “You’ve got to stop!”  
“I am merely trying to point out some factual mistakes on these cards. And why are you whispering? The likelihood of people here actually caring about it is very slim, given that I am providing a public service.”   
“You could have at least left the coat and scarf at the coat check. You look out of place with them on.”  
“Don’t be stupid. I never take them off unless I’m at the flat.” With that, Sherlock strode off down the hall, making sure to swirl his coat just a little harder than normal. John hurried after him, then stopped short.  
He could try again at telling Sherlock that John liked him. He had a language app on his phone that went to German, Spanish, French, and Chinese. This could actually work. John pulled out his phone and selected German. Feeling slightly silly, he tapped the button at the bottom and spoke into the microphone.  
“I like you.”  
“Working...working…” his phone said. “Ich mag dich.”   
“Ich mag dich” John repeated. With a grin, he hurried after Sherlock.  
He was standing next to a collection of paintings (landscapes, watercolors, very nice) and surrounded by a group of tourists.   
Oh God. Sherlock’s going to say something about these paintings, and they’ll realize he’s not a tour guide. John thought, already picturing the resulting scene. Not that Sherlock wasn’t capable of taking care of himself, but there was an very strong-looking man standing in the front row.   
“Ich mag dich...ich mag dich” John muttered to himself. And then, with more conviction:  
“Ich mag dich.”  
The lady standing in front of him turned around and spoke...with a heavy German accent.  
“What are you trying to do?”   
“Sorry...sorry. I wasn’t talking to you. N-not that I don’t think you’re pretty-I mean, I’m not attracted to you...but I’m sure you’re a very nice person?”  
The strong man appeared by the lady’s side.  
“Is something the matter?” he asked, with an even thicker accent, if that was possible.  
The two began to speak rapid German to each other. John heard the words “ich mag dich” repeated quite a lot.  
“What do you mean by this?” the man eventually said to John.  
“Sorry-really, really, really, sorry. I was just talking to someone else-not that your wife isn’t lovely-I mean, not that I was looking at her-I’ve got a girlfriend-I was just-”  
The strong man let John babble on for a few minutes of this, then punched him in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't resist the idea of German tourists...


	4. أنا مثلك

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John settles on Arabic, and learns that Sherlock watches him sleep

Late one night, John made his final decision. 

Arabic. It had to be Arabic. Honestly, it was such an obvious choice he should’ve gone with it right at the start, instead of sacrificing his laptop, pride, and nose to Russian, French, and German (that tourist could really throw a punch). And-best of all-John actually remembered some Arabic from when he was in the Army. He wasn’t in any way fluent, not even close, but he could manage a few phrases without mangling the pronunciation. And it looked so pretty written out:أنا مثلك

It even sounded nice. Da’na mis’naka, if his memory was right. He fell asleep repeating the words in his head. Da’na mis’nka...da’na mis’nka...da’na mis’nka. The next thing John felt was someone shaking him. Hard.   
“Mmm? Wass goin’ on?” John mumbled, rubbing his eyes.  
“Are you okay?”   
“Yeah, m’fine...wass’a problem?”  
Sherlock looked at John for a brief moment. “You were speaking Arabic in your sleep. I thought you were having another nightmare.  
“.......”   
“Well, clearly not, but I couldn’t hear what you were saying. And you were sleeping funny.”  
“.......”  
“Problem?”  
“You were watching me sleep?” John said, fixing on the first detail that jumped out at him.  
“........”  
John had to give a small smile at catching Sherlock out. “And you were watching me sleep before now?”  
“What makes you say that?” said a suddenly defensive Sherlock.   
“You said I was sleeping funny. So, you’ve seen me sleep before, otherwise you wouldn’t have anything to go off on.”  
Sherlock glared at John. “You should get some more sleep.”  
With a sudden movement, Sherlock strode out of the room, flicking the door shut behind him.  
It wasn’t until the morning that John remembered he’d never actually asked Sherlock if he understood what John was trying to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way John pronounces the Arabic in this chapter is a ROUGH approximation of what Google Translate says when I plug it in and click listen. If anyone knows a better way to say it, PLEASE let me know:)


	5. Watashi wa, anatagasukidesu/I like you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two languages for the price of one! Japanese and English (finally)

John had, for the final-actually the final now-time made up his mind. He was going to talk to Sherlock, right now. He had his language (Japanese) ready, had gone over it so many times he had been able to say it backwards while running from madmen . And Sherlock was sitting in the living room, playing the violin for the last hour and only now slowing down. John walked into the room, suddenly very nervous.  
“S-Sherlock...?”  
The detective made no sign that he had heard, and kept playing something that sounded like a variation on a Beethoven sonata.   
“Sherlock?” John said again, growing more nervous by the second.  
Sherlock’s eyes flicked to where John stood, then he resumed playing, perhaps with slightly more force than before.  
“Sherlock!” John said, now growing agitated. “Look at me!”  
Sherlock held his gaze for all of three seconds before beginning to play again-although whatever noise he was making now was most certainly not Beethoven. John sighed, squared his shoulders, and went for it.   
“Sherlock, watashi wa, anatagasukidesu.” John managed to get out.   
“You’re pronouncing it wrong.”  
“Sorry, what?” John said, now completely confused.  
“Your accent is terrible, and you’re stressing the wrong syllables.”  
John just stared. Was this really the reaction he had been punched in the nose for? Struggled for ages with a French textbook for? This?  
“Sherlock? Did you understand what I said.”  
“I can only assume you mispronounced the words more gravely than I thought, because I doubt you would’ve said what I heard you say.”  
John was growing impatient. “Well, what did you hear me say?”  
“The Japanese you said translated to English as the phrase “I like you”. You really should work on your accent.”  
“Well. That is what I meant to say. So I guess my accent’s fine then.” John retorted, grinning at the momentary look of surprise on Sherlock’s face.   
“But...I thought…”  
“Sherlock. Holmes. I. Like. You.” John said, emphasizing every word.   
“You said you weren’t gay!” Sherlock burst out.  
Now it was John’s turn to look confused. “Sherlock, I’m not. What I meant was, you’re my friend. And I like you in a completely platonic way. Like friends do.”  
“Oh.” Sherlock mumbled.   
The two remained in their positions for a while: Sherlock, sitting on the couch with his violin on his shoulder, bow in hand. John, standing across from him, relaxed now that he had finally made himself clear. Eventually John broke the silence.  
“Could you understand me the other times?” The question had been nagging him for some time, ever since the night two weeks ago when he realized that Sherlock had been watching him sleep.  
“What other times?”  
“The German and the Arabic. Well, there were some more tries before that, but I never quite managed it until the day at the museum with the tourists.”  
“When was that?” Sherlock asked.  
“Oh no. Don’t tell me you deleted that day. The bloody tourist punched me in the face!”  
A slow grin spread across Sherlock’s face. “You looked so surprised…”  
“Stop it!” John said “It’s not funny!”  
“Why are you smiling, then. If it’s not funny” Sherlock retorted.  
John couldn’t hold in a giggle. That set Sherlock laughing, and before long the two were in hysterics, laughter bubbling out the windows and carrying to the street.   
Below them, Mrs. Hudson shook her head and smiled at the noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took the longest to write/edit/revise...but I definitely think it came out best.


End file.
